Weekend adventure to Wenatchee

Saturday my good friend Kevin and I drove to his tattoo artist "Doc" at Rebel Tattoo. I hadn't met Doc before, but had only heard of and seen great art created by him.
For a little background on why I went down there, I went to begin a tattoo that I've wanted for over a year now.
Since I was young I've always loved being outdoors and climbing trees. As I grew up if I wasn't at school for class or sports I spent all of my time at home until I was old enough to start working. In connecting with nature early on, I fell in live with it and out of all the trees my favorite became the Willow, laying under it in the summer with the light shining through. My step dad allowed me to plant a tree in our front yard and I chose to plant a Willow in my favorite place to lay. As years went by I endured many different types of pain between physical and emotional throughout my family and friends with most recently being my boating accident. As I overcame many hardships I always tried to think back to what made me happiest when I was younger and what calmed me the most that being sitting at the beach or under a Willow. I then was just overwhelmed with the need to have the Willow tattooed on me so I could keep it with me always. I then was prompted by my family to search for the meaning of the Willow tree and I found this Celtic meaning,

"Other valuable traits of the willow include its flexibility. The willow is one of the few trees that can bend in outrageous poses without snapping. This is a powerful metaphor for those of us on a spiritual path. The message here is to adjust with life rather than fight it.

Further testimony to its adaptability, is the willow's ability to not only survive, but thrive in some of the most challenging conditions. The willow is a prolific grower, often taking root from a single branch that has fallen into some marshy bog.

In all, the willow reminds us to take heed of this lesson: Keep growing and reaching higher no matter where you are planted."

Wow.. This is the epitome of me, this fits so perfectly in my walk through life! Reading this solidified that it was meant for me and one day I plan to be buried under a willow on the shore!
I began drawing what I pictured the tattoo to look like, bought my ideas to Doc and he freehand drew the rough draft on my back. After our 1st session we made it a little over 1/3 the way done so stay tuned to see the final product in a couple weeks!